Paradisus Río de Oro Resort & Spa *****

Jacob Jacob, CA, 2007-05-04  
A group of us stayed at the Paradisus from the 22nd March to the 5th April 2007 for my wedding. It was the most wonderful place I could have imagined getting married, and exceeded most, if not all, of our expectations.

The Rooms

The rooms, as others have said, are slightly dated, but not so that it hinders your stay at all... they are all spacious and very cool with cable television and a mini fridge that is stocked daily. During our stay we were upgraded to a room with an outside shower and a hammock, which was a great addition, even if our Canadian neighbours weren't thrilled with us being outside in their eye line. The bathrooms need to be redone, but they are functional and clean which is really all you need.


The Buffet and Restaurants

The Buffet is phenomenal, to be honest you could simply have this and no other places to eat and still have a different dish every meal. There is so much available, a pasta bar, steak, pork, a variety of seafood including lobster and crab, and every vegetable imaginable.
The Japanese restaurant is by far the best. We were served by Roybert, who actually lets you get up and have a go at cooking yourself. There was so much food, all delicious, and the staff are extremely friendly and attentive. It's more Chinese or Thai style than Japanese, but nonetheless, I urge you to go.
The Mediterranean would be my second choice; it’s the largest, with veal and seafood dominating the menu.
The Cuban restaurant is in a lovely setting, and while you eat cats wander in and out, not to everyone’s taste I'm sure, but we certainly enjoyed it! There is not such a wide choice of food available here, but in a two week stay it would be worth trying.
El Patio was where we had our wedding meal, and wasn't really to our tastes. It is certainly not a restaurant for fussy eaters or for children, though the atmosphere is very elegant and the decor beautiful.
You get one visit to each of these restaurants free each week of your stay, as well as unlimited use of the buffet, 24 hour room service, the beach restaurant and the snack bar. You will not want for food!
There seem to be many people who urge you to pre book restaurants before you travel. This is basically rubbish, there is no need to do this, and we got into every restaurant when we wanted, with a great table, with no trouble.

Drinks

All inclusive does mean all inclusive here, there is everything you could want to drink available to you 24 hours a day including champagne, cocktails and brand name drinks. There is a swim up pool bar, a bar on the beach, and the lobby bar, and the fun pub is open in the evening but does not allow children.
I suggest a strawberry daiquiri!

Entertainment

The entertainment is somewhat lacking, there is no real variety, every evening, with the exception of one, there are the same dancers, to the same music, doing the same dances, only with different costumes on. It is enjoyable to have something going on while your drinking, but they really need to spice things up a bit. One evening we had a beach party, with the SAME dancers in grass skirts, limbo and some extremely hot fiery drink... Aside from being dive-bombed by some enormous green bug, this was the best night of entertainment. One of the dancers really goes out of her way, and spent an eternity dancing with my younger brother which made for hilarious photos!

There are daytime activities such as archery, water polo, volleyball and excursions. Danis, that organizes some of these, was the most fantastic member of staff. He really takes the time to make sure you’re having fun, tries to get everyone involved, always remembers your name, and is generally great. Give him some pesos!

Staff
Everyone was helpful and couldn’t do enough for you, tips go a long way, and leaving presents out for the maids on the bed every morning ensured our towels will be arranged into swans or something! My cigarettes went missing from inside the wardrobe, but they are so dirt cheap it hardly matters. Sometimes there is a sense of something when a waitress snatches away your plate or gives you a snide look, but I guess this is just their way! There is the occasional member of staff in the buffet or snack bar that just doesn't seem to be as good or as friendly as the others and it is slightly unsettling.

Excursions

There are many excursions available, swimming with dolphins was fantastic and I would recommend it to anyone. While in the water it seems quite badly organised, and you have to pay extra pesos to have a picture with them, to hold their fins, or to ride on them, but it is all completely worth the money.
Anytime you want to you can get a horse and buggy to the market, it costs 15 CUC and seats four people. The horse and buggy will wait for you while you shop and then bring you back to the hotel again. Its well worth it, and we actually went twice. While in the market, haggle! They all accept a little less, which makes you feel kind of bad, but, oh well!
We also went on a catamaran (very wet, unexpectedly, sit inside!!!) to an island where there was a jeep safari, snorkelling and a buffet with antelope and buffalo available. The catamaran takes just over an hour and a half and to get to the catamaran takes an hour. It’s a very long day, and on the way back we had a Cuban throwing a rock at our car, and people generally being unfriendly which was quite shocking and a little scary, especially if you have children in the car.

The Wedding

The Wedding was beautiful, the ladies in our party went and had their nails and hair done in the morning, which turned out beautifully, though was not exactly the picture I had shown. There were four of us and only one girl doing it all, so time was quite rushed in the end and we found we only had about half an hour to put on make up, have a drink, panic etc!
The ceremony was at four, and is very short; it's conducted in Spanish with a translator. Afterwards you are given champagne and have photos taken around the resort, in the spa, on the beach etc. We paid for extra photos, and you have to direct the photographer a bit, but we ended up with beautiful photos.
Our wedding meal was in El Patio and wasn't to anyone’s tastes! But with champagne flowing freely and a just married buzz, who cares!!
There were only about four weddings in the two weeks we were there, you are made to feel special and it makes for an amazing wedding.
In the evening we all went to the fun pub and sang karaoke, and when we got back to our room they had decorated the bed and left us champagne and chocolate with was wonderful. The next day we were given breakfast in bed, and a few days later, we planted a tree that will eventually have a wooden plaque bearing out names and wedding date.


Weather
It RAINED... Cuba seemed like the land of rain, and who would have thought booking a wedding in the Caribbean would be likely to have worse weather than even England!! There was pretty rubbish weather actually for the first week, and aside from drink, there isn’t a whole lot to do. Luckily, the day of our wedding it brightened up and got continuously hotter until we left. Thankfully! Apparently this weather was very rare and usually March and April have very little rain fall. Seriously though, I have never seen so much rain in my life. Ever. And I'm ENGLISH.

Raphael, CA, 2007-05-04
We returned on 9th March from our second trip to this Hotel and it is still as fantastic as the first time we went. We did have a problem with our room to begin with, the room we were allocated smelt very damp and there was a generator directly outside, we thought we would give it a try but by the following morning my asthma had kicked in and I was wheezing quite badly. We went to reception and our rooms were changed within a few hours, from then on it was fantastic. The food is excellent with such a huge variety e.g. quails eggs, lobster cooked to order, tilapia, fillet mignon to name but a few tasty treats available on a daily basis in the buffet restaurant. There are always plenty of sunbeds and "floaters" , these are blue mattress type things that you can use to float on in the pool. I understand from November this year the Paradisus will be an adult only hotel - which actually suits us down to the ground. The staff are all fantastic, although we did miss a special friend we had made called Raphael, who was currently not working at the hotel, but everyone is so helpful, polite and courteous, nothing is too much trouble. My only criticism would be that the rooms are beginning to look a bit tired and could benefit from a makeover. The Spa at the hotel is fabulous, if you want to be treated like royalty, this is the place to visit - the treatments are affordable and you get to use the entire spa for the day, which has a gorgeous sea water swimming pool, various jaccuzzis, private beach, massage huts, decking that overlooks the sea with sun loungers. There is a relaxation room, foot spa baths where you can soak your feet in oils, petals and water, steam room, sauna - in fact it would give Champneys a run for its money. I love this hotel !!!

Camille Québec, CA, 2007-05-04
My boyfriend and i juste returned from Holguin Cuba on April the 1 st and we loved the ressort so mutch, the food was excellent and the services were impecabale, the people are so kind and always smiling differente from Québec. We went to the spa and it was so relaxing and so full of services i couldn't believe my eyes. we where treated like Royalty. This place is not recommended althought for young children or teenagers. this is more to really relax as a couple and it's beautifull for weddings. I would deffenitly come back again without any hesitations. The show's were out of this world and the piano man was so good and aslo cute if i can say. thanks to all the people that work at the ressort.

cotteg, CA, 2007-05-04
We stayed at PRDO March 10 to 17--Ontario March Break. I flew from Ottawa and Mom and I flew together from Halifax, and then travelled for 1 hour by bus arriving at PRDO at 11pm--tired but glad to see the stunning open marble and sparkling clean lobby. The staff were eager to assist us to our room and gave us a great briefing of how to work the AC, lights, safe, etc.
The weather was glorious, the food very good (even for a 78 year old lady with a sensitive tummy--no problems whatsoever) and lots of variety, the staff very helpful (except, oddly enough, one experience with the lady at the Customer Service Desk--go figure), the rooms and entire resort very clean and picturesque, the beach was spectacular and pool relaxing and refreshing . . . I could go on and on!
Getting around for an older person with dementia was no problem; we simply dialed 0 whenever we needed a golf cart to take us anywhere on the resort and the restaurant staff and club house were pleased to call a golf cart for us whenever we asked. The drivers were extremely helpful and often asked us if we were having any problems or concerns with our accommodation or service.
The Spa facility was beautiful, the massage amazing, the private beach picture perfect, and the staff caring and attentive (special thanks to Tamara!). I stayed overly long in the sauna and the attendant came to check on me and deliver a glass of water, which I thought was very kind. The cold mist shower afterward is revitalizing!!
Our half day excursion to Boca de Sama was just perfect (distance, walking and duration) for my Mom and gave us a much needed insight into how some Cubans live.
We had dinner at all the a la carte restaurants except the Japanese one (only because Mom doesn't like Japanese food) and they were all excellent. Especially El Patio!!! The staff were incredibly kind and friendly and the dinner was delicious and the decor beautiful--live violin, viola music was a lovely touch.
The resort was extremely restful and quiet where we were. We commented on the peace many times as we strolled slowly for a walk on star filled evenings. We were always greeted by staff and guards with a smile and sometimes a gift--like a cricket made from a palm frond!
I was able to use the Sol Melia membership card to book a later check out at no extra charge. Thanks for that tip from the www.tripadvisor contributors!
We brought gifts to our maids and in return received outstanding service, pretty sculpted towels and lots of smiles and thanks. The rest of the time, we tipped with pesos to any staff who paid attention to or helped us in any way -- a special gift to the gardener who presented my Mom and me with a flower several mornings--my Mom was very charmed by this and so was I, of course.
Thanks again to all the tips I received from Trip Advisor contributors in preparation for our vacation. I would welcome any questions or inquiries.
I sure do hope to go back with my husband sometime soon!!.

Karine Kaplan, CA, 2003-09-01  
Thank you so much for everything you did to make our wedding day special. We had an amazing time and the memories will last a life time. We look forward to returing in the very near future and would highly recommend this resort for weddings.

Karine and Craig Kaplan